PatsDraft.Com

2016
Season Blog.

Pat
Vs Bills.

7-Things-For-Sunday.

By
TOM

Greetings
Pats Fans,

First
off I just want to thank all the fans of this site. I have been
promoting my books for sale primarily on this site. As a result, I
have sold almost 500 books in the past year. Thank you for your
support and patronage, both are greatly appreciated. I cannot tell
you how happy it made me when I read that report. So thank you Draft
fans and Patriot fans alike, and mostly thank you to all the fans of
my books and website worldwide.

On
To Buffalo.

By
TOM

5.
Offensive Explosion!-
The Pats are facing, at best, a hobbled Shady. He is listed as doubtful
for the game. Hamstrings don't just heal over night, and reinjured
hamstrings never heal in a week. Without Shady the Pats can use more edge
contain to keep Taylor in the Pocket. We don't want Taylor get outside the
pocket.

I
think Gillislee is actually faster than Shady, but he doesn't have Shady's
elite short area, make-you-miss, explosion. "Some of his time has
been limited of course because McCoy's had such an explosive season, but
when he's had a chance to play he's done a good job," BB said when
asked about Gillislee. "He had a big run against San Francisco, like
a 30-yard touchdown, 35-yard touchdown, whatever it was. [Gillislee is] a
strong downhill runner, one cut guy that's hard to tackle, good
complimentary player to McCoy. I mean, McCoy's exceptional. This guy's an
elite back. He's tremendous. His explosive plays this year are by far the
best in the league. He's very hard to tackle, he's got great instincts,
he's a tremendous player. But Gillislee's a good back, too. They've got a
good combination there. It's good depth. And Jonathan Williams, I'm sure
we'll see him at some point, too." I loved the way Williams ran the
ball in the Draft, except he does fumble too much.

The
big thing about the Pats defense has been the bend but don't break
ugliness. "Obviously, our job it to keep them out of the end zone no
matter what part of the field they're in," Patricia said.
"Certainly, the red area, everything happens a little bit quicker,
gets a little tighter, the plays are a little more difficult to defend.
When you get down there, the space of the field changes. It doesn't go
from a vertical field; it goes to a horizontal field. We've got to do a
good job of recognizing the things that teams do down in those areas of
the field. A big part of the red zone is being familiar with the schemes
that the offense runs against us." The Pats defense is extremely
pissed off, and very familiar with the Bills offense after the first game.

When
your watching the game you get so pissed watching the defense let them
move up and down the field. "Communication from us from a defensive
standpoint, we have to do a great job there. A lot of our fundamental
techniques have to be at a high level and executed at a really good
mark," Patricia said. "I think for us, the red area is something
we look at individually each week just trying to make sure that week we
have a good plan to try to stop what they do. It's extremely hard to do in
this league. There are some really good players, obviously, on the
offensive side of the ball. You can get into some matchup situations there
that you have to defend, get into some scheme situations you have to
defend. Everything happens faster, it happens quicker, it happens
tighter." Then the D stops them.

They
don't give up the touchdowns in the Redzone. They make it so tough for
teams to get that final push into the Endzone. Things tighten as the field
shrinks, and that has been where the Pats defense plays it's best this
season.

Then
as things get even tighter in the Redzone, and they don't have to worry
about losing over the top anymore, they are able to get more aggressive in
coverage. "For us as we go through the season we're trying to improve
every week in a lot of the situational football areas of football on the
field, and the red area is certainly one that we have a lot of improving
to do," Patricia said. "We're going to try to build on
everything we do each week, and that's something that hopefully we can get
done and move forward doing. Certainly, it's a huge challenge for us, that
part of the field, and our ability to do well down there is critical to
the game. We've got to keep working on it. Something we've obviously got
to put in a lot of time and a lot of effort. Buffalo [is] very, very good
in the red area." You have to stop their run game in the Redzone.

The
Bills will be less productive running in the Redzone without Shady, and
relying on the pure speed back Gillislee. "[The Bills] have a lot of
dynamic players on the offensive side of the ball. Plus the big, physical,
strong offensive line that they have," Patricia said. "The
ability to run the ball in the red area really puts a lot of stress on the
defense. It's going to be a huge challenge for us this week and like I
said, it's separate every week in the red area itself. One week to the
next we're just trying to do our best to defend those teams in the red
area. So this will be a big challenge for us again this week. They're an
excellent red area team and certainly like we mentioned earlier, it's a
critical part of the field to try to be able to defend and to obviously
keep them out of the end zone." With Watson still out, they have to
over rely on the run game in the Redzone.

The
Pats must keep Taylor in the pocket. "Yeah, there's that
balance between the aggressive pass rush but also proper leverage and
discipline," BB said. "Any time you face guys like that that's
the challenge. You can't just stand there and watch them and not let them
scramble or he'll throw. You can't rush out of control and give up 20,
30-yard scramble runs that are uncontested. I mean that's not the answer
either. So yeah, it's somewhere in between discipline, leverage and doing
it consistently. There's no secret to it. It's just a lot of hard
work." The more he can use his feet the more comfortable he looks.

The
Pats always play the best when they can bump and run. "I think as any
defensive coach, probably any coach on our side of the ball, you love to
see all of our interceptions go up. Those are huge plays in the game and
any time we can get the ball from [their] offense and give it back to our
offense, that's the entire goal of what we're trying to do," Patricia
said. "I love the interceptions when we can get them. I'd like to
have more of them. Definitely need to keep working on it and keep pushing
to get more of them week in and week out and take advantage of the
opportunities that we get. You know, there are plays in the game where we
think we have a chance to get one and we don't. They're usually very
difficult plays." Taylor will give the Pats DBs a chance or two for
an INT.

They
have to take advantage of one of his mental miscues or two. "In
general the offense isn't trying to throw the ball to the defender,"
Patricia said. "They're usually trying to go to their wide receiver
or one of their skills players. So for us to make a play or to get an
interception, we've got to be in good position, we've got to make a really
good play and go up and fight for the ball and come down with it.
Certainly, those are very difficult plays. We'd like to have as many as we
can get and we've just got to take advantage of the opportunities we can
get when they come up no matter what part of the field it is. Whether it's
like in last week's situation going into the end zone, or if it's in the
middle of the field or towards the perimeter, in either case, just our
ability to come up with the ball and get turnovers is critical for
us." If they can contain Taylor in the pocket, and stifle Gillislee
then the offense will have to press, and that is when they can cause some
turnovers.

The
best news is that Malcolm Brown, and especially Alan Branch have been
controlling the middle of the line, almost by themselves. "In general
the defensive line, that group collectively, is a very hard-working group.
Guys that have a tough job, very difficult job on our defense,"
Patricia said. "Guys that have to really be disciplined and play with
good technique and be able to be strong at the point of attack in the run
game and knock guys back in transition and be able to handle the pass rush
duties and the quarterback responsibilities. I'd say all of those guys do
a great job of really working hard and studying and trying to improve.

"In
regards to Alan in general, just so: professional, hard-working, a guy
that really tries to improve each week. He's trying to execute the way
that we want him to out on the field. He's trying to do things the way
that we want them done. Which is very difficult. I think he's done a
really good job of doing that for the most part. He's big. He's strong. He
plays with good technique. He's able to knock guys back at times and hold
the point of attack.

"[Alan]
also has enough of the ability to transition in the pass rush and get some
pressure and push the pocket. Just overall, a guy that we really rely on
to go out and do a good job, whatever it is. It changes week by week. We
ask him to do some different things for us like everybody on the defense.
It's going to be different based on whatever we need to do that week to
win. He does an excellent job of handling that responsibility and taking
that challenge on and really trying to do the best he can to help the team
win. I really appreciate that much from him." Branch has been a force
the past few games.

You
have to stop the Bills run game and put all the pressure on Taylor, which
means stopping the wacky Wildcat. "Well, that’s what they do.
Between the wildcat, the unbalanced line, the kind of two different option
packages, that’s kind of what they force you to do," BB said.
"They sprinkle those plays in, they make you work on them, but they
also have I’d say some of the more conventional plays but they also have
the speed sweeps and things like that, reverses and quarterback runs that
are wildcat runs but it’s a quarterback that actually runs the ball
instead of a running back or wildcat guy.

"So
they have a lot of things like that that force you to make adjustments
even though they’re essentially running the same play but they get to it
in different ways. Again, whether you want to call them wildcat,
unbalanced line, option, but all of those things; they all kind of fall
into the same category. And with them you’re not going to see anything
like 30 times. You’re going to see they have five of these, six of
these, five of these, six of these, maybe eight of something else, maybe
two of something else. But that’s kind of what they do.

"Yeah,
it definitely stretches you and forces you to prepare for those things
that you’re going to get a handful of times in the game. You might get
them more if you don’t stop them but that’s what they do and they’re
pretty successful at that because they do force teams to eat up a lot of
practice time working on things they’re going to see only a couple of
times but then they’re on to something else." Let them move the
ball between the 20s, and then shut them down and win.

6.
Defensive Explosion-
There have also been a lot of shakeups on the Bills as well, like the
return of Darius and rookie Shaq Lawson. "I mean, they haven't made a
lot of changes. Most of their changes come on third-down," McDaniels
said. "Now they have multiple fronts and multiple looks, they don't
always line up in the same place. A guy like Kyle Williams is really lined
up I would say on every player on the offensive line. I've seen him: over
tackles, definitely over left guards where he usually is, but he's been
over the center, he's been over the right guard.

"I
don't know what they will do with Dareus or Kyle Williams for that matter.
They can move them around but I think their fronts and their basic early
down defenses, there's a lot of continuity there from week to week. But
there's a lot of variety, too. They don't always just line up in the same
place but they have their different schemes and they run those. So I don't
know. I'm sure Dareus will fit in there somewhere. It could be in more
than one spot. Sure, it could."

If
the Pats don't turn the ball over it is near impossible for the Bills to
win with all the changes the two teams have gone had over the past few
weeks. "There's no question that our players and our coaches are
emphasizing that," McDaniels said about turnovers. "We know
there is no greater determinant of success than taking care of the
football on offense. That's for sure. Everybody would agree with that. We
all understand how critical and important it is to our ability to win each
week. There are a number of things, a number of different periods in
practice that we set aside for that. The guys are working extremely hard
at it.

"And
ultimately, it comes down to, we've got to do a good job of, in the
moment, making sure that we cover the ball, protect it with both arms,
with our breast plate, and make sure that the ball is tight, that there's
no way that they can get it loose to begin with so that it doesn't end up
on the ground. [Fumbling is] definitely something that we're looking to
correct, definitely something that we've done too much of.We understand the significance of it, and we're going to do
everything we can to work to correct that as we move on through the
season."
Taking care of the ball is the most important thing in this game.

The
Pats will be looking to run the ball early and often to soften up the
defense a little. "There are a lot of
people involved in any successful portion of your offense, and in
particular, the running game," McDaniel said. "Everybody needs
to do their part in order to make it go. Our receivers do a good job of
blocking and getting in there and trying to take care of the guy that
they're responsible for. Our tight ends are certainly heavily involved in
what we do. We have a fullback that is tough and does a lot of dirty work
for us in James Develin and then our offensive line certainly plays a huge
role in our success and everything we do. Whether it's pass protection or
the running game, in terms of giving the back an opportunity to get
started.

"Then
the runner has got to do a good job of reading what they're supposed to
read on each play, and then try to take the ball where it's supposed to
go. It's a collective effort with the group that's out there playing. It's
also a collective effort in terms of our planning and preparation. Dante
[Scarnecchia], Ivan [Fears] and Brian [Daboll] do a tremendous job of
studying that each week and presenting ideas and thoughts that we kind of
build off of, and then create the running game menu from it, and then try
to be as balanced as we can as much as possible. There's always a lot of
things you can choose form, but ultimately you've got to try to narrow it
down to what we feel like is best for each week, and those guys do a
tremendous job of that. We just try to pick the things that we need to
pick each week to make sure that we have a successful day on Sunday."
I'm not sure how well they can run the ball in this game, but it doesn't
matter, because Brady's back and their gonna be in trouble.

7.
Pats Win-
The last game was such a highway disaster that I think we forget how
devastated the Patriots were as a team. "We start all over
again," BB said. "We've been focused on three other teams in the
meantime. Now we turn our attention to Buffalo and obviously need to do a
better job than we did in the last game if we're going to be competitive.
We need to coach better, we need to execute better, we need to do a lot of
things better. We need to start all over again. We emptied the tank
against Pittsburgh. It's time to fill it up again." The Team was in
disarray after four weeks without Brady, and the musical chairs at QB do
to injuries.

Once
I heard that Garoppolo was out and the Pats had to play the rookie with
the bum thumb, I updated my 7-Things for Sunday and predicted a loss,
because the Bills suddenly had the advantage at QB. "He had a huge
day against us," BB said. "That's about as good as it gets right
there. As good of a day as he's had passing was against us. He's good,
he's accurate, he's athletic in the pocket, he throws the deep ball well,
throws the ball on time. We're going to have to find a way to defend it
better than we defended it the first game." Herr is a reminder of the
disarray the Pats were in from my 7-Thing for Sunday from Week Four:

All
the crap that led to the Bills win is gone. The Pats are the best veteran
laden team in the NFL again, and the wackiness in the Ryans' brains are
tearing up their team again. The Pats want revenge on more than one level,
and will be looking to put a hurt on the Bills in more than one way. I
don't think it is a blow out, but the Pats cruise comfortably to a win.

Plus,
don't forget how great the Pats play the second time they play an opponent
in one season. BB always finds those guys who are smart, studious, and
attention to detail players. They now know the Bills players much better
than the Bills coaches want them too. That is the final nail in their
coffin in this game.